Angele heard a beast-like roar coming from the room after he closed the door. He quickly left the place.
‘This happens once a day. The sequela is really terrifying,’ Angele thought as he shook his head.
***************
One month later…
Trading hall, underground.
The place was completely crowded. Most of the people were looking at the stone wall. The mission information was displayed on the wall, and the information pages looked like paintings. The pages were automatically changing as though it was a slideshow. Most of the people here were wearing gray robes. Only several of them were wearing black and white. No one stayed near the ones in black, but Angele could see people greeting the ones in white.
Some people were talking, while some were just staring at the mission information pages.
“Level 3 mission! Is that even possible!” a wizard apprentice yelled, and the hall became noisy.
“This one has the best reward?” someone asked.
“It’s level 3! Mary, shall we…?”
“The leader is Khedira…” Several other wizard apprentices were discussing.
Most of the people here were concerned about the leader. Even one of the male wizard apprentices in the corner also looked hesitant. Two wizard apprentices beside him started talking about Khedira.
“I can’t believe the leader is Master Khedira. He had a talent level of 4, and last year, he became a wizard. He’s one of the top wizard apprentices. How about joining the mission? The mission has no restrictions on the number of people and the reward is 50 magic stones per person,” one of them said.
“50 magic stones… The mission must be very difficult. It has no number limit, so it means the mission is most likely not for young wizard apprentices like us,” the other guy said as his expression changed.
Angele was carefully listening to their conversations from the sidelines. He was trying to take some suitable missions to earn enough magic stones for the potion. The missions had decent rewards. Angele had already finished 3 of the easier missions this month, earning him 30 magic stones. However, he almost died during one of the missions. The information page stated that the main purpose of that mission was to check on some dying trees around the school. Angele joined a 5-man group for it. Four of them got injured, while one of them died. The reward for the missions was good, but all of them were risky.
“50 magic stones…” Angele muttered. He couldn’t give up such a great opportunity to earn a decent amount of magic stones. Although he knew the mission was going to be dangerous, he thought he would do a good job at ranged attacks. Usually, a group protected the ranged attackers well. That was the reason why he survived the first several missions. Angele’s arrow became more powerful when enchanted with spells that could buff its damage.
‘I have Zero aiding me in the surveillance, and it can check a larger area than an average wizard apprentice could. I can easily escape a stage 3 wizard apprentice if he isn’t too close to me,’ Angele thought. He saw a young man in a black robe walking into the hall. The man had a handsome-looking face, but he had a cold expression on his face. He was about 1.8 meters tall, and in his hand was an even taller black staff.
“My name is Khedira. Guys, an unfortunate event just happened 10 minutes ago under the Achslach Mountain.” He lowered his head as he held his staff tightly. Angele could see his hands shaking from too much grip.
“My younger brother, Asan, a genius stage 3 wizard apprentice from our school, just got killed after he completed the mission,” he spoke in a very sorrowful tone.
“This level 3 mission was announced by the masters after I begged them.” Khedira raised his head, his eyes clearly emanating that of a person who dearly wished to exact vengeance.
“Someone killed my brother! He was one of the best wizard apprentices in the Ramsoda College! He was the second inheritor of the Caesar Family!” He glanced around the hall. Suddenly, his eyes began to gleam.
“No matter whom the murderer is! I’ll make him pay!” he yelled, eyes looking red as it had been filled with bloodlust. Khedira quickly left the hall after saying these words.
“Someone is provoking us!” someone said with a deep voice.
“Asan died… The Caesar Family will send people there, too.”
“It could be infighting with their own family. I don’t want to be part of this.”
“True, the Caesar Family now…” People began discussing the situation.
Angele stood in the corner, raising his head to take a final glance at the mission information page on the wall:
Vengeance: Make whoever disrespected lives from Ramsoda pay for their sins!
Basic Reward: 50 regular magic stones.
Danger Level: High.
Number Limitation: None.
The words were written in red; whoever wrote it was seeking the life of the murderer. Angele stared at the page for a while, and then he made up his mind. He touched the silver crossguard sword by his waist before he disappeared into the dark hallway.
**********************
One month later.
Abandoned Ancient City, above the Ramsoda College.
It was early in the morning. Angele could barely see the rising sun. By the entrance of the city, a group of people was standing on the bridge. Some of them were wearing gray robes, while some were wearing black. All of them had black cross insignias on the back of their robes and all had their hoods on, covering most of their features. The man leading the group had a tall, black staff in his hand and a black pigeon standing on the man’s right shoulder.
The man knocked his staff on the ground, attracting everyone’s attention.
“Everyone.” the man had a deep voice.
“I’m not going to mention how dangerous this mission is again. Please use whatever secret weapon you have. If we complete the mission, my family will double the reward,” he continued.
“Double? You have that many magic stones left?” one of the men in black robes asked.
“How do we know that you aren’t lying to us?” he asked.
“I know the Caesar Family has become weaker at present, but we’re not short on magic stones,” the leader said in a light tone.
“We trust your promises, Wizard Khedira. Let’s move then, don’t waste any time,” a wizard in a white robe said.
The three were the only wizards in this group, while the rest were all wizard apprentices. They could only follow the three’s plan. There were about 10 people in the group; most of them were very young. Angele was in the middle of the formation, carrying a metal bow on his back. He looked like an average wizard apprentice in the group.
Three black carriages came to pick them up. The coachmen were three gnomes wearing gray linen clothes. They were too scared to look at the wizards and the wizard apprentices.
They started to board the carriages. Angele chose the one in the middle. There were four other wizard apprentices riding in the same carriage as him, two females and two males.
‘Zero, can you check the attributes of these people?’ Angele asked.
‘Within range. Checking… Information is being shown in front of you,’ Zero reported. Angele closed his eyes before opening again. Everything in his vision was coated with some light blue color. He looked at a male wizard apprentice in front of him.
“Greetings, I am Angele. I’m from the Faculty of Negative Energy. I’m adept at ranged attacks. I think I’ll later need your cover,” Angele said as he smiled.
“Sure. No worries. We should help each other. I’m Andre from the Faculty of Mutation.” The man looked surprised; it seemed that he wasn’t used to communicating with others.
‘Andre. Strength 0.9. Agility 1.1. Stamina 3.1. Mentality 4.7. Stage 2 Wizard Apprentice.’ Andre’s attributes showed up beside him. Angele then greeted the others, but all of them seemed slightly uncomfortable with conversing with others. Angele’s purpose was to gain intel on their attributes. Without the protection of force fields, Zero could easily obtain data like this within a certain distance. People who joined mission like this were usually poor, but they were confident with their skills. Zero had even found an enchanted item on a girl named Marylin.
Angele tried to start a conversation, but no one was in the mood to talk. Thus, he decided to stay silent. Everyone was at stage 2, though the girl named Marylin was probably the strongest in their group as she possessed an enchanted item. The rest of them were above average just like Angele.
The other girl was called Griffia. Both of the two girls weren’t very good looking. Marylin was slightly plump while Griffia looked sexy. Griffia attracted the eyes of the males in the carriage. Andre and Griffia had no special items on them. Their gray robes looked like it had been patched up several times already. It was clear that the cleaning spell on their robes was weakening.
‘They’re really poor,’ Angele thought as he shook his head. However, he himself would also not spend 5 magic stones just for a new robe. He would rather spend 1 magic stone and ask a stage 3 wizard apprentice to fix it. That was probably what the two in front of him did.
Half a month later.
The carriages entered a small town by the school at night. Several noble-like people were patiently and politely waiting outside the town for them. They welcomed the group to the town and led them to a private manor. The group stayed for the night before they left, heading to the place where Asan got murdered.
They traveled for another day and reached a canyon. It was a cloudy day, fog filling the valley.
The ground had dying grasses all over. There were some green trees with small leaves around. Angele could barely see the mountains on both sides as they had been canopied by the fog. The stones that were quietly lying on the ground looked strange. Occasionally, small animals passed across the grass, making them noticeable due to the movements of the grasses. By the entrance of the valley, a group of swordsmen who were all wearing iron armors was waiting. A man from the group walked toward the man in a black robe. He seemed to be the leader of the group.
“Master Khedira, you’re here. We already blocked the whole valley such that not even a bird could escape,” the man said.
“Good, keep guarding the entrance. We’ll head in and deal with this,” Khedira said as he nodded. The leader also nodded and took a glance on the people behind Khedira. He respected the wizards, but he also feared them.
Angele became surprised when he checked the attributes of the leader. The leader was a top-level knight. After entering the valley, Angele stayed in the innermost middle part of the formation. He nocked a black-feathered arrow on his metal bow while scouting the surroundings.